The Tinker Case Study

Christopher Eckhart, John Tinker and Mary Beth Tinker of Des Moines school were suspended for wearing armbands for their opinion of expression on the Vietnam War. The students did return to school after New Year’s Day, which initially was the ending date of wearing armbands. Upon the students return to school, the parents were appalled with the school decision of suspending the students for their symbolic expression of wearing armbands. Therefore, the parent decided to sue Des Moines School for the violation of their children’s right to expressed their opinion through symbolic speech.
The Tinker v. Des Moines case went to the district of courts, after reviewing the evidence, the U.S. district court dismissed the case. The district courts found that Des Moines School had the authority to banned all armbands to be worn with the schoolhouse gates and had the authority to suspend any students who failed to comply with the school rules. The district courts favor the Des Moines School because the school had valid judicious reason to suspend the student for wearing armband within the schoolhouse gates. The district courts also agreed that the armband would cause some form of disruption or violence within the school. The students and parents were not satisfied with the district court’s ruling and decided to appeal their case to the

Today students can perform freedom of expression within schools without being penalized. There have been several other cases like the Tinker v. Des Moines case throughout the years. Some of these cases have won, yet other cases have been dismissed by the courts; because even though students have the right of freedom of speech, including expression of symbolic speech, it comes with stipulations. For Example, students are not permitted to express verbally, wear clothing or symbols that express profanity, or anything that can be discriminating or defensive to other scholars, including